Kitchen Shelf & Pot Rack Planner

Find the original shelf and pot rack project

Sam Henderson's archived HGTV kitchen shelf and pot rack tutorial uses pine or oak boards around a vinyl gutter, with conduit pipe below for hanging cookware. Rings and S-hooks hold the pans; closet-bar brackets support the pipe. The shallow upper space holds kitchen items. The archive includes the materials, photos and assembly steps.

The old instructions list a 63 in board piece and two 5 in pieces, yet describe a six-foot board with at least 73 in of length. Six feet is 72 in, before any saw cuts. They also describe 1½ in of overhang at each end of a 61 in gutter against a 63 in board; those lengths leave 1 in each side when centered. Resolve both points against the assembly before cutting.

Check the stock before you cut

Use the planner for one long piece and two equal short pieces cut from a single board. Enter the actual stock length and your saw's cut width. The result includes three cuts, so each finished piece can be separated from the remaining stock. It assumes no trimming at the starting end.

A knot, split or damaged end may use more wood than the cut itself. Mark the pieces on the board first and keep those defects out of joints. Board thickness and width need their own checks. A length result does not say that a shelf, pipe or fixing can carry your pans.

Make room for the shelf and the pans

Measure the space with the longest pan hanging from its actual hook. Include the handle as well as the pan body. Leave room to lift the hook off the rail and remove a book or jar from above. Try the position with paper outlines before making holes.

Check nearby doors, windows and work surfaces. A pan should not hit a cabinet when it swings. Keep the rack clear of cooking heat and use your appliance's required clearances. Put the items you reach for most where you can lift them down comfortably.

Write down everything the finished shelf will hold, including books and the rack itself. Choose the mounting method for that full load and the wall you have. Where a wall rack is a poor fit, our frugal kitchen organization guide helps you try storage inside existing cupboards.

Use instructions made for your wall and hardware

Read the original plan from start to finish before choosing the wood or the rail. Check that every ring can slide over the pipe and every hook fits both the ring and your pan handle. Do not treat a decorative bracket or picture hanger as a rated cookware fixing.

The Concept Housewares wood pot rack instructions show how one commercial rack uses brackets, a flat bar and supplied wall anchors. They advise mounting to a wall stud when possible. Those instructions apply to the listed rack models and their supplied hardware; they are not a fixing specification for a homemade shelf. Individual anchor ratings do not establish a safe load for the whole project.

For a different woodworking design, Megan Fitzpatrick's Weekend Pot Rack combines a wood shelf with a hanging dowel and pegs. Use its own drawings and joinery instructions throughout rather than mixing parts from the two projects.

How the board check works

The required length is the long piece, plus twice the short-piece length, plus three saw-cut widths. The remainder is the stock length less that total. Values display to three decimal places. The 96 in stock and ⅛ in cut are editable examples. This is a planning worksheet.

For a project using items you already own, try the kitchen storage repurposing planner. For the wider room, browse our kitchen storage guides.